Pupils and staff at a Tyneside school are celebrating after a &#xA3;5.6 million project to revamp the site was given the go-ahead.

Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Fenham will be transformed by the scheme.

The announcement came as the Department for Education and Skills announced the North East has been granted more than &#xA3;18.6 million to spend on school buildings in 2002/03.

The &#xA3;5.6 million for Sacred Heart will mean the school, which is currently based on two sites, will be moved onto one site and unsuitable buildings will be replaced by purpose-built facilities.

Headteacher Patricia Wager said: "This is a dream come true. It will enable us to give our students a wonderful education, with excellent suites for all subjects centred around technology, music and art and a new sports hall.

"Our sense of community will be complete and both students and staff will enjoy a more fulfilling learning environment, which will secure the future of Sacred Heart's unique education for many years."

The project is being carried out by Newcastle Local Education Authority in partnership with the Roman Catholic Diocese for Newcastle and Hexham.

The extra cash for the region by the DfES will be used to provide new places and improve, modernise and repair school buildings.

Newcastle will receive an extra &#xA3;2 million.

Newcastle finance and procurement manager Frank Jordan said: "This is fantastic news for the LEA. We are now seeing significant capital investment over the next two years which will allow us to deal with some of the appalling conditions faced by our schools."

Allocations for the other North East authorities are more than &#xA3;3 million for Durham, &#xA3;3.3 million for Gateshead, &#xA3;3.6 million for North Tyneside, just under &#xA3;2 million for Northumberland, &#xA3;974,000 for South Tyneside and nearly &#xA3;3.6 million for Sunderland.

A Durham Council spokeswoman it had carried out an asset management survey and they saw it as recognition for that hard work. She said they would now be looking to see which schools the funding would be shared between.

A Gateshead spokeswoman said they were currently putting together a plan of where the money would go.